Six of Crows: To Hell and Back

Part Fourteen Kaz

"How did A.M. even take over?"  Kaz asked, "Wasn't previously led by the Saints?" Jordie looked down at his hands and tapped his fingers together.

"It's not one of my finest moments," he said. "The Saints run the entire hotel and each one gets a floor. Saint Ilya wanted a new floor and I was his first resident and Birgit was his assistant. Not everyone believed in the Saints so he assumed I would be good for reaching out to the fresh dead. I died plainly of disease. I was no one's enemy."

"So what happened?"

"I got greedy. Then A.M. died and he offered me real power. I accepted."

"Real power?"

"I became his number one enforcer. I was the eyes and Birgit was the ears. People used to trust me. Now only those actually loyal to A.M. give me the time of day."

"It's true," Alexei said. "Pretty much everyone is either afraid of him or hates him."

Kaz looked around for any possible way to win. He needed to rally the friends behind him so they could overwhelm them. Four Grisha (likely Heartrenders) that were clearly very highly trained with more Grisha probably ready to join the fight. The Darkling clapped his hands and more Grisha appeared from the woodwork. A few friends actually joined the Darkling's side. Some of the Grisha looked shocked and Botkin scowled. Now there were about 18 Grisha on the side of the Darkling. Kaz looked to Fedyor and he nodded.

"Please my fellow Grisha! We need your help!" The Grisha looked around and didn't do anything. Now that the Darkling was here their courage was gone. A few non-Grisha even stood with the Darkling. That struck him as odd. Kaz sighed. It was time for the demon inside to come on out. He was going to get Matthias back to living by any means necessary. He didn't care how he had to do it. Nice Kaz was gone. Dirtyhands had come back to life.

Jordie handed Kaz his cane and rose his fists. "I'll support whatever you choose Kaz, what shall we do?" Kaz looked around and spotted someone in the crowd. If he could just get to him they would be able to get all the Grisha on his side. Kaz felt his body move. He faced a black clad soldier. Kaz clutched his cane tight. Nina had once told him she could make him pee his pants, Kaz had a feeling this guy wasn't as playful. At least they couldn't make Kaz's group drop dead. He wasn't sure about himself since he wasn't actually dead, but if he died he was at least going to take as many people down with him. 

"Jordie, we need to take down as many as we can. If we don't remove the throne then we damned. For real."

"We already tried to remove the throne, what else can we do?" Alexei asked. Kaz looked around. There were still 21 Grisha against the Darkling. Most of them were Fabrikators. Maybe if they all worked together? The Fabrikators made Grisha steel, if the Heartrenders and Healers could make the Fabrikators stronger, then with the physical labor of the Etherealki they could all push the throne together. Maybe even with the other friends who weren't Grisha to help push was well they could do it. That could work. First he had to get those Grisha on his side first and take down the Darkling. He needed to get someone who they listened to on his side. Kaz tapped on Mikhael's shoulder and whispered an order into his ear. Mikhael nodded in agreement.

The Darkling wasn't even doing anything. He was standing there and still everyone was cowering. He really was over confident overconfidence breeds arrogance. Kaz needed to use that. Those with arrogance often had the most insecurity.

"Fight first, worry later," Matthias said. The one Fedyor called Ivan struck first. He extended his hand and sent Mihkael flying into the crowd. Kaz scowled, but this was good. Now he didn't needed to rush through all the Grisha to get to his target. Marie drew flint Kaz didn't even knew she had. A ring of fire surrounded the rest of his group. Kaz felt his knees buckle. Kaz hung onto his cane. No one could physically attack them while they were in the ring of fire. Saints, it was hot. Fedyor touched Marie's shoulder.